


a lovely everyday

by dollcloud



Category: Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena
Genre: Domestic, F/F, Fluff, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-28
Updated: 2016-10-28
Packaged: 2018-08-27 10:55:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8399005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dollcloud/pseuds/dollcloud
Summary: Two years after Anthy left to find Utena, she finally found her. Their life together after-the-fact is so sweet it almost seems like a dream. (Small collection of super-short everyday stories.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> a collection of day-to-day post-canon fluff because i couldn’t find any. there’s no plot and it’s a bit out-of-character but this is just for fun, or something like that. (i wrote this a year ago so it may not be the best!)

_Their apartment, a little, cramped city lot, sits neatly above a small café. The city continues on either side of them, and in back, there’s a lonely little basketball lot where U plays when she’s bored. The building stands out along the other ones on the block, painted an interesting yellow colour and coated with grey misshapen tiles._

\---

It’s five minutes past ten and Utena arrives with their dinner, cheap takeout food from a restaurant down the street. She’s carrying a pile of misshapen containers, covered in steam from the kitchen, with a little bit of soup and saltwater spilling out of loose caps.

Anthy, with a laugh, walks over to help her dismantle them. 

“Where were you? You were gone for a while.”

“I got caught up in something.” - Utena clears her throat - “Nothing major.” 

Another laugh from the other girl. “Were the cooks late again?”

“Yeah- it’s still warm though! I’ll get some utensils.”

“I already put them out. We don’t have a table yet, so hopefully the packing boxes will work.”

“Thank you, Anthy.”

Their new apartment is in semi-shambles, albeit very neat ones. To the left of the room are moving crates, stacked on top of one another with seemingly no pattern- Thanks, Utena- and to the right, a nicely made futon with Anthy’s folded clothes placed on the side. And, of course, a large cage for the rats. There are five of them, a flourishing family, and they get along with Chu- somewhat.

In the center of the room, they’ve arranged a particularly big box with chopsticks and bowls, along with a thin glass vase arranged with peonies. Anthy chose to grow them in a lovely pink colour- she told Utena that they reminded her of her, and she had forbid herself from ever growing roses. Bad memories.

Before Anthy can finish organizing their food, Utena has already finished the first course, with edges of dressing around her mouth. She’s reaching for a fourth dumpling by the time they’re both sitting down.

And Chu is already peeking into the container of rice, grabbing a handful for himself. A scolds him with a loving tone. “You haven’t eaten in ages, right, Chu?”

“It’s good, but I still prefer your cooking.” Utena’s voice is dampered by a mouth stuffed with seaweed and cucumber. 

“I’ll make curry and samosas tomorrow.”

“Your hair looks so nice down. I still haven’t gotten over it.”

“Thank you, Miss Utena.”

“I was thinking of cutting mine short once we go into town…”

“I think it would look lovely on you. Please don’t cut it with safety scissors, though!” She laughs. “I can do it for you if you’d like.”

“Thank you!”

In ten minutes Anthy has finished eating; Utena is still scraping out crumbs of rice from the container. She stopped and bought some mochi, and although it’s sticky and melted, eating it with Anthy makes it taste like heaven.

\---

_Across the street there are two lonely little vending machines and an empty parking lot. Sometimes, on cloudy days, they’ll walk around the city, holding a packet of wildflower seeds to grow in the cracks between the sidewalk. What a surreal life they’ve been living._

\---

It’s two days later and Anthy is sitting behind Utena, legs criss-crossed around the other girl. In front of them is a mirror; she holds a pair of rusted old hair-scissors.

“Should I cut it just below your shoulders? Mmm…”

“Maybe a little bit higher?”

“I’ve got it.”

Her movements are smooth and symmetrical; if Utena had cut her own hair, it was sure to be a mess. With a laugh, Anthy recalls that she couldn’t even do her bangs; they had ended up being a mess of too-short and too-long strands. She had come home from her classes at Otori to find a confounded Utena lying on their bed, trying to convince her that it looked fine.

More small chat; Utena mentions the bed of peonies that A planted in a discarded waste bucket that sits outside their door. It’s a welcome sight, the flowers, much like roses but more complex and hardy. 

She continues, talking about casual tournaments, day jobs that she never manages to hold, and the mosquito bites she’s gotten over the past few weeks, each in the most inconvenient places. 

Anthy is more of a listener (and an analyst) than a talker, and Utena’s voice is so calming to her that she doesn’t mind her girlfriend’s lighthearted complaining. They don’t talk about Otori anymore, not at all, save for a few laughs about their old friends. 

Twenty minutes later and Anthy sits back with a sigh, finally satisfied with her work. Utena’s hair is trimmed in a sort of modified pixie, with her hair going to the middle of her neck. It’s much differed from her old style, and locks of pink-blonde hair are strewn across the floor.

“You look lovely, Miss Utena.”

She smiles, and it’s this great, lovely, wide smile. Utena is used to her fake smiles, or her hiding smiles, mysterious and guilty. This time, she is sincere. She is tired of hiding herself.

\---

_On top of their apartment, Anthy has planted a makeshift roof garden, with wildflowers and spider lilies and lamb’s ears and all sorts of plants, organized in a disorganized sort of way. Too many roses, she’d said. She wanted to grow something besides roses, so Utena and her had ordered seed catalogues from everyone they could think of. On a quiet afternoon, they had sat in each other’s arms and picked out varieties that sounded beautiful and welcoming._

\---

It’s Saturday and sunlight is flooding through the windows. Utena and Anthy sit, legs crossed, on the futon, with arms around each other. Anthy is holding two of their rats- named affectionately after people from Otori, Wakaba and Nanami- in her hands as they play with her hair. 

They share a plate of dahi puri and two glasses of lemon water between them, while the morning is still sleepy and soft. Three deep breaths later and Utena speaks for the first time in half an hour-

“What will we do if Akio comes back?”

“I’ll kill him.” Anthy returns to caring for the rats with a smile, as they jump around a knitted hammock stretched between her hands. “I don’t care about him anymore. I don’t want him to be happy.”

“He doesn’t deserve to be happy, Anthy.” Utena’s voice isn’t as strong as usual; she can tell that the subject is not one that either enjoy. She picks up Wakaba, a lovely brown-speckled rat, in her hands, and pets her gently.

“Do you want to go outside?”  
“Of course. I’ll make us something to drink.”

Utena follows the other girl into the kitchen. Her cooking skills are not exactly the best, and before she found Anthy again, she went by mainly by ordering take-out and boxes of junk food, much to the dismay of Anthy. 

“I should have soaked the seeds earlier.” she sighs. “We have a few minutes to wait. Can you tell me how your team has been doing?” 

The other girl laughs loudly. “Well, we won the last game, but barely. I know I talked about it all last week, but our odds of making finals are decent. If I win that 300,000¥, maybe we can go on a vacation. To Europe, or even America.” 

Anthy giggles lightly. “It would be my pleasure. Let me know how I can help you practice for the next game, by the way.”

“Help me practice? It’s my teammates who need it!” 

Anthy turns around after a few minutes, holding two glasses of frozen ice. “Hopefully such a drink is fine, now that it's so warm out," she says, “Ready to go, Miss Utena?” 

\---

_Their apartment is located in the middle of the city, just a few blocks- maybe 5 minutes, walking- from the park in the middle of town. On hot summer days, the couple walks down to the common, with lettuce for the ducks and plenty of treats to give the squirrels and pigeons, whom Anthy adores. Walking back to their home, there are plenty of food carts and stands, enough for a plentiful lunch._

\---

Today is a work day, when Anthy goes to the animal shelter in town and continues with her business, dealing with adoptions and making sure that medical care of the animals was going well, as well as managing all of their taking-ins of abandoned and injured pets. 

In addition, she’s been given the task of driving through the city and placing bowls of water and food for strays, to ensure that they don’t get injured in the sweltering heat of summer, which comes in heavy waves. 

Utena laughed and called her a natural helper, for her other day job involves working at a shelter that safeguarded and rehabilitates abuse victims. She doesn’t mind, and she wouldn’t deny it- despite her somewhat cynical manner and layers of self-hatred, she has a soft heart. 

“Can I join you today? I don’t have anything to do. The café is closed today.”

“Yes, as long as you promise to do something besides pet the cats.”

“I petted the dogs too! And the mice,” she sighs.

“I’ll go warm up the car. It’s been cold out lately, so it will be best to get a head start.”

Utena joins her in the front seat, holding a rushed cup of tea. “Feels plenty hot to me.” Her voice is light, but she’s right; the humidity is so bad that Anthy’s hair is sticking together, and breathing in feels like lifting weights. 

The shelter is only a ten minute drive, as it’s positioned on the outskirts of the city. The girls breathe a sigh of relief as they walk in the shoddily air-conditioned building. Anthy walks off to wash her hands after a short talk with her supervisor, who informs the pair that their first job will to check on the new arrivals, a litter of kittens who were birthed last night. 

\---

It’s 11:01 PM and Anthy is reaching to turn off the lamp that lies next to their futon when Utena interrupts her. Her voice is tired but sweet. 

“Can you tell me our story again?”


End file.
